


E/+R_R0R

by NoBrandHero



Series: Constants & Variables: A Species Swap AU [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Body Horror, Doomed Timelines, Fate Worse Than Death, Gen, Mind Control, Possession, SBURB/SGRUB, Species Swap, Time Travel, Trollstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-04 12:57:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1779916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoBrandHero/pseuds/NoBrandHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sgrub has one last trick up its sleeve to finish off the game. As the session veers off into doomed territory, Dave finds that some timelines are worth dying to reset and some timeline resets demand a heavier price than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	E/+R_R0R

**Author's Note:**

> This is a side story to the main entry of the series, specifically the events in Act 1.10. Can you read it out of context? Eh, probably, but it does not end happily (or start happily, or have a happy middle- BASICALLY THIS IS WHERE YOU FIND OUT MY SECRET SPECIALTY IS WRITING HORROR, OKAY?). That said, all you really need to know is that this is an AU where the beta kids are trolls and they've just beaten Sgrub.
> 
> By the by, if death and violence are a sensitive subject for you, this isn't necessary reading for the series; it's just supplemental.

Dave couldn't remember the last thing John said to him. It probably hadn't been anything important or meaningful, but he regretted not paying better attention all the same. They thought they were finished: cross through the endgame door, enter their new universe, never worry about drones or culling or strifes again. No reason to etch anyone's words to memory as if that was the last thing they'd ever say.

It all went to hell when John grasped the doorknob. Static burst from the door like a shockwave. John wrenched back, but his hand wouldn't detach as the static grew up his arm and spread so fast no one could even react.

The static soaked into John like bad video game graphics, making his limbs clip and his colors warp until he was a glitched up mess. There was an earsplitting, robotic shriek and Dave's blood ran cold when he realized it was John's distorted _voice_.

"Jade, get him out of that!" Rose's command broke through the pained screams, as firm as it was loud.

The light of Jade's teleportation surrounded him, but nothing else happened.

Unable to wait half a second longer, Dave flashstepped forward even as Rose yelled out in warning. He grabbed John by the arm, but before he could wrench him to safety, John turned on him, claws extended. He slashed across Dave's front, slicing four good cuts in his shirt- no, it went deeper than that; it _stung_ and John's fingers came away covered in bright red blood.

Dave initially froze on instinct -- shitshitshit his blood was in plain sight _the other two could see his blood_ \-- but he stayed frozen when his eyes locked on John's: that wasn't an expression he'd ever seen on his best bro. It was almost a pokerface to rival Dave's. Even John's eyes glowed with static.

John raised his hand again, a hammer sliding out of his sylladex, but he wouldn't... It was _John_ , for fuck's sake; he'd never- Dave drew his strife specibus and narrowly blocked the hammer strike that would have otherwise smashed his think pan.

What the hell was he supposed to do? He didn't dare counterstrike, but John -- or _whatever_ was controlling him -- was clearly looking for a fight to the death. In all his ironic scheming, Dave had never memorized any corny "I know you're in there" friendship speeches, which seemed a major fucking oversight in retrospect.

"Dude, cut the bullshit!" Dave said.

Same thing, right? Apparently not, as John just raised his weapon again instead of being overwhelmed by feelings of friendship. Before he could attack, Dave felt the tug of Jade's powers taking aim on him and, in a split instant, he was standing on LOFAF with the other two, John left behind on the Battlefield.

Jade bounded over, pulling a bandage out of her sylladex because she _would_ be the one most prepared. He wanted to yank away and cover his wounds, hide the evidence, but little late for that. He at least made a point not to cringe as she pressed against the cuts to stop the bleeding; the bandage stained bright mutant red within seconds.

Her eyes widened and she stared at the color with curiosity but all she said was, "Are you all right?"

He nodded. "What the fuck just happened?" He wasn't really expecting his voice to stay steady, but it granted him that one mercy. "Is this some kind of fucked up bonus boss? Did we miss a sidequest somewhere?"

Jade chewed her lower lip and glanced at Rose. "I don't... I don't think this is part of Sgrub."

Rose shook her head, running her hands through her bangs and pacing. Dave had never seen her so openly agitated. "Something's gone wrong."

"Yeah, no shit." Dave scoffed. "I never noticed, what with John turning into a glitch and trying to kill me. What tipped you off, highblood?"

She shot him a glare. "Not now, Strider."

"Sorry, maybe I should go back in time, warn you when you've got a free moment, doom us all in the process."

Jade pulled away from Dave's freshly clotted wounds. "Don't say that!"

"Fucking relax, Harley. I wasn't being serious." He frowned at the damage to his chest. The cuts weren't deep, but they left a mark with his blood color on display for all to see. He didn't have a spare outfit in his Sylladex other than his God Tier PJs, but he equipped them because even a goofy cape felt safer than a torn, bloodstained shirt.

All their gazes snapped up as the sky exploded in a wave of static originating from Skaia. It swirled and steadily spread, as if... Dave tensed and swallowed. As if it was pushed by a breeze. Skaia grew dimmer with every second.

"Oh god, what is he doing?" Rose said.

All at once, their sprite pendants shattered. Jade's hand snapped over hers, a look of horror on her face. "Oh noooo... John, no."

Dave tried not to think about what that meant about their sprites. It didn't matter, he didn't care, he was chill. "Guys, c'mon, what the fuck are we doing? Lalonde's walkthrough or Skaia's clouds had to spoil how to handle possessed friendleaders somewhere, right?"

The other two exchanged anxious gazes.

"I..." Rose hesitated, cringed, and continued with a rough voice, "I can't even identify what's taken over John, let alone make guesses on how to remove it without harming him."

"Maybe we should just take him on." Jade visibly swallowed and her expression turned serious as she stared at the spreading static above them. "If we kill him, he could resurrect good as new and the glitchiness will be gone."

Dave crossed his arms, careful not to rest them too close to his cuts. "Dude, no fucking way. What if it counts as Just at this point? You could fucking kill him for real."

"But it's John!" Jade said. "He'd want us to try anyway! Right, Rose?"

Rose frowned and hesitated to speak. "If it was between risking his life... and risking ours... John would side with Jade, without a doubt."

"I am not going to fucking fight John," Dave said, fighting to keep his voice even because he was chill even in the face of murdering his best bro, absolutely.

Jade equipped her rifle and straightened. "If there's no other way, then I'll do it."

"Jade, don't fucking-"

"Shh!" Rose held up a hand for attention. The static was swirling closer, whipping down from the sky like leaves on an unbearably windy day. The air tingled as it reached them and they all grew tense.

Rose swore as a blue blur appeared above them and hurtled their direction. They didn't have to see him to know John had somehow found them with the weirdass static. Jade shot into the air to meet him before Dave or Rose could do a thing to stop her.

Dave bolted after her, not entirely sure what he could do besides die in the attempt to drag her to safety, but she had a good enough headstart on him that he was still far behind by the time she'd fired her first shot.

The blur slowed to something a gander bulb could actually follow as John stumbled mid-air. There was a bullet hole straight between his eyes, visible from afar only because of the amount of static seeping out of it. That should have fucking killed him, or at least done enough damage he fell out of the sky, but it only took him a moment to shake it off and keep going.

Rather than taking that as a hint that it was hopeless, Jade just kept going, firing every few seconds as they neared each other.

"Harley," Dave shouted, "learn when to fucking retreat and get back here!"

"I won't let that thing keep control of our friend!" she called, reloading faster than an eye could follow.

As another bullet struck, John disappeared in a burst of static and they all froze. For a split second, Dave didn't know whether to feel hope -- it was gone, they were safe -- or fury -- _John_ was gone. Kneejerk reactions were all they had time for before John reappeared behind Jade in another burst of static, his hammer ready to strike.

Jade turned and fired another shot straight into his eye before the hammer struck the side of her head with a sickening crunch.

Dave's protein sack lurched and Rose yelled out Jade's name as she collapsed, half of her head smashed in and covered in lime blood. Dave dove for her, catching her before she could hit the ground, and made a break for it before John could turn his hammer on him.

Rose yanked on his sleeve. He didn't need prodded twice to follow her at full speed, frequently changing directions in an attempt to throw off their pursuer as they made for a gate to LOHAC. The static disappeared as soon as they changed planets and Rose increased speed in order to keep ahead of any future graphical distortions. When Dave looked back, John was nowhere in sight behind them, though the static was still on their heels.

"C'mon, Jade, revive already, you've got this, you've fuckin' got this, just hurry it up," he murmured under his breath. It wasn't that she was heavy, but there was only so long he could carry another person before his speed had to at least take a small dip.

Rose noticed him lagging. "Strider, drop her!"

He tightened his grip. "Are you fucking blood pusherless?"

"She's dead and slowing you down!"

"She could still revive!"

"That death was Heroic and we both know it! Fucking drop her!"

"Not on your life, heiress!"

Rose shot him a nasty glare over her shoulder and made a dive. For a split second, Dave thought she'd finally lost it and was headed for the lava, until he spotted the small cave sticking out amidst the red below. It was cramped and dark and uncomfortably warm, but the entrance was high enough that no flames found their way in.

Rose settled against a wall, breathing heavily. "We won't have long, but it's as long as we can hope for. The static searches from the top down."

Dave nodded, sitting crosslegged and holding Jade close, watching for any signs of her resurrection. Why was it taking so long? Wasn't it supposed to take hold faster than this?

"She's gone, Dave," Rose said softly.

He swallowed. What kind of idiot would have judged that as Heroic? Maybe she was refusing to back down despite the danger in order to save her friends, but that... that wasn't Heroic, c'mon. "You said there's a way to revive other players with mouth-to-mouth, right?"

"I don't think it works with God Tier."

"But it can't fucking hurt, can it?"

She sighed, keeping her gaze lowered. "Maybe your psyche."

Dave brushed Jade's hair out of her face. Her head was seriously fucked up, the way it dripped with blood from her shattered skull and smashed think pan. He couldn't care even the slightest about how gross or awkward it was as he leaned in and kissed her -- for once, his indifference wasn't even based on irony but sheer desperation.

He held the kiss a long time, praying for a twitch in return. He adjusted himself to make sure his breath properly infiltrated her mouth, but there was still no change.

He laid her on the floor, trying to at least do her the favor of letting her look dignified before she rotted away.

"What the hell do we do?" he said, voice hollow.

"I don't know." Rose studied the sky through the small opening above them. It had turned a headache-y, static-y gray. "Even if we can dodge him for a while, from the looks of it he'll coat this entire session until there's nowhere left to hide." Her expression was grim and for once he had a feeling her pokerface was stronger than his. "Strider, I'm going to try to snap him out of it."

"You think that's got a chance in hell of working?"

She shook her head. "Right now, I can't see a single fortuitous path left for us. But maybe I can buy you enough time to reach the endgame door and escape."

Every inch of his body tensed. "Are you shitting me?"

"I am dead serious."

"No, I think you're shitting me." He paced in what little space there was. "I think we're both going to sit the fuck down and discuss a sane plan of attack that keeps as many of us alive as possible-"

She sighed. "Strider..."

"-and get John to snap the fuck out of it through the power of friendship or some crap-"

" _Strider_..."

"-and find some obscure Sgrub rule that lets us revive Jade-"

" _Dave_!" she snapped. "We're not going to win this. As heiress, it's my responsibility to keep as many of my subjects safe as I can. To keep _you_ safe."

He turned on her. " _I'm_ a worthless fucking _mutant_!"

"No." She cupped his face and leaned in close. "You're Dave motherfucking Strider, you're my friend, and you're going to _survive this_." She smiled. "That's an order, lowblood."

He couldn't hold his gaze and was glad for the shades that hid that fact. "Fuck you, highblood."

"As soon as John notices me, you need to make a break for Skaia, do you understand?" she said with an odd mixture of softness and seriousness.

"Rose-"

" _Dave_. Do you understand?"

He grit his teeth. "I hear you, but I don't fucking understand."

"Do your best anyway." She pressed their foreheads together and they just stood in silence for a minute. "Don't you dare let my sacrifice be for nothing or I'll fucking stab your blood pusher out in the afterlife, okay?" she whispered as they broke apart.

The static was getting close. Rose gave Dave's sleeve a small tug before flying up to meet the static. Almost immediately, they saw a blue blur in the distance shoot towards them.

"Strider, go," Rose said.

"B-"

"Argue and I'll stab you through the eyes. Now _go_."

He scowled but did obey, taking off towards his planet's final gate while Rose flew the exact opposite direction and courted John's attention.

He knew not to look back, he _knew_ it was a mistake, but he looked over his shoulder all the same as if there was a chance in hell Rose had gotten through to her moirail. Oh fucking hell, he shouldn't have done that. He'd looked just as the hammer struck again. Unlike Jade, Rose hadn't even had the spirit to give him a fight.

He needed to keep going, he was so close, but she was going to fall into the lava and lose any chance of resurrection. He slid to a stop and shot back, sticking dangerously close to the lava to ensure he wasn't too high to catch her. He nabbed her with a couple seconds to spare, but he could sense more than see that he'd just caught John's attention.

He made for the nearest safe surface, which happened to be the Beat Mesa, and gingerly laid Rose on it. He straightened and reached for his strife specibus. John had killed Jade and Rose without a second's hesitation. It wasn't going to be different with Dave. If he didn't fight back, he'd die.

As soon as John was near enough, Dave flashstepped to meet him and their weapons clashed. John was still riddled in bullet wounds, but they didn't seem to slow him down. Regular attacks weren't going to be enough to take him down.

Dave knew he was a better fighter than John, but John had never had the assistance of freaky glitch static that let him sense others and teleport at will. For once, he gave Dave a run for his money, striking at him from behind and blocking more consistently.

It still wasn't enough and Dave managed to disarm him within two minutes. He snagged both of John's wrists as soon as he saw him reach for another weapon and shoved him off the Beat Mesa. They both plummeted, John below Dave and trapped in his grip. Dave pulled up just in time to make sure he avoided the lava, while John landed full in it.

John let out a horrible scream and Dave cringed, trying to keep his resolve, trying to not give shits, Striders didn't give shits even if their best bros were in agony (bullshit bullshit _bullshit_ he gave so many shits).

"D*aV/e," John choked out, struggling to push back against Dave's arms and rise out of the lava as it trickled over his face and burned through his back. His voice was robotic and distorted. "Wh#at aRRr/e y0u d0!ing, m/aN? stT-op, pl_e4Se." He cringed worse, his teeth clenched, and his struggling faltered. "D0n'T../. LISTEN t0 i/t. Y0u'R3 f... fin/E." He whimpered. "K-k-kiLl th1S baS%tard, br0."

Dave's chest constricted. "John, I'm so sorry," he said, and if his voice cracked, it... it was just the heat.

The tip of John's mouth twitched into a forced smile. "M#e t00." He let out a strained scream. "Hur_ry uP!"

Dave nodded and pressed down on John's hands all the more, forcing him deeper into the lava until all that remained unscathed were his wrists. Dave squeezed his eyes shut and wished he could turn off all other sensations while he was at it. He wanted to throw up the entire time he felt John's hands struggling against him.

Finally, mercifully, John's arms went limp. Dave released them and they sank into the lava as well, until John was completely out of sight.

Dave watched to make sure there was no movement, no last minute escape, and maybe also tried to gasp down some air that was otherwise suffocating him. He could barely even fly straight as he made his way back to the Beat Mesa.

He collapsed a few feet from Rose's corpse, shaking and still fighting to breathe.

"No snark this time?" he said, his voice absolutely not trembling, no way, wasn't happening. "C'mon, Lalonde, I'm a fuckin' wreck here. Prime target for scathing remarks about my obvious oversensitivity. You're not staying dead and missing out on this." He crawled over to her. "Lalonde, that didn't count as fucking Heroic, so wake the hell up before I try something as gross as kissing you."

She was still, her eyes half-closed and unfocused.

He wasn't dumb enough to think kissing would do a damn thing. It hadn't worked on Jade, it wouldn't work on her. All the same, once he regained enough air to stand without stumbling, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her, making a beeline for the nearest gate.

There was static on LOLAR too but not half as much. It was eerily dark though, with the sky blotted out.

He made his way to the Quest Cocoon and settled Rose onto it. He sat next to her and waited, and waited, and waited some more because where the fuck else did he have to be? He only gave up after an hour.

He combed LOHAC until he found the cave he and Rose had taken refuge in. He recovered Jade's body and took it to her Quest Cocoon as well, knowing full-well it was pointless but unable to take even the smallest chance that he was wrong. He curled up on the ground next to it and passed out, unable to give any shits about the potential nightmares caused by lack of sopor slime.

Jade was still dead when he woke hours later. So was Rose, when he checked LOLAR.

He explored every inch of the planets, in case they'd just revived somewhere new, in case the game provided another way to gain an extra life if he could just find it... He trolled the other three's usernames every so often and only received the error message that they were offline. Even Prospit had turned a grim place, as the surviving carapacians grieved the loss of their heroes, and Derse was as quiet as ever. No one had returned to their towers on the moons.

There were no sprites left. Half the Carapacians were gone and the consorts were no fucking relief. Jade, Rose, and John were dead for good no matter what he did.

It was time to give up.

He returned to Skaia, ready to take the plunge and finish the game, unworthy and alone as he was.

The endgame door was broken. It had snapped in half, still sparking with static, and it wouldn't budge no matter how much he yanked at the knob.

He slumped to the ground. He was chill. Striders didn't give shits, they didn't cry, and they beyond any doubt didn't have emotional breakdowns.

But it was ironic, right? Breaking down after his friends were all dead, after he murdered his best bro to save himself, after he discovered he was trapped for an eternity all alone in a finished session... If his hands were shaking, that was just fucking irony as he played the part of the cliche, worn down action hero at the end of an apocalyptic movie.

His credits weren't fucking rolling though. He was stuck living out his solitary bad ending, with no Game Over to bring it to a close, no start menu to exit from, no reset button to-

He raised his head.

He could reset. He could save John from touching that booby-trapped doorknob, save Jade and Rose from dying, save a luckier version of himself from having to kill John... All for the low, low cost of writing himself out of existence.

Compared to his alternatives, it sounded like a fucking steal.

He clenched his hands into fists, trying and failing to fight off the trembling. It was time travel. He couldn't overthink it. If he gave himself a moment to think it over, he might chicken out.

He equipped his timetables, running the tips of his fingers over them. He didn't have to go back that far and he couldn't risk fucking up the final boss battle anyway. He just had to stop anyone from touching the endgame door.

He scratched the timetables and felt time rush by, marking him for inevitable death as he broke his timeline and let it dissolve into nothing.

The endgame door stood in front of him again, whole and uncorrupted, along with the other three- other four, fuck, Alpha Dave was there too. John was just reaching for the doorknob.

"John, get back!" Dave shouted, and he found he unironically didn't give any shits that his voice came out in a panic.

In what felt like Dave's one ounce of luck that day, John actually paused and turned, eyes widening at the sight of Dave.

The other three weren't any less startled, including Alpha Dave. The poor asshole probably thought he needed to study "his" future actions. Dave wondered how long it'd take before the Alpha realized he was staring at the leftovers of a doomed timeline. Doomed Daves had never lasted long enough to talk in the past, had they?

"Dave?" John said, otherwise staying uncomfortably close to the door.

"I said move!"

John dropped his arm to his side but only took one damn step when he needed to be a good fifty feet away from the door. "What happened?"

Dave clenched his teeth. " _Egbert_ , I swear to god, if you don't get the fuck away from that door in point two seconds, I will drag you by your horns!" He wasn't halfway through his threat when a gut-twistingly familiar robotic screech emitted from the door.

The other four held their hands tight over their ears -- even Alpha Dave, the fucking wimp. The door distorted and glitched, just like John had done in the other timeline, as the noise grew louder. The static spread and Dave almost couldn't breathe.

It didn't matter if the door was actually touched. It was still going to possess him again. It was going to take John and start everything over and fucking kill them all and _like fucking hell_.

"John, fucking run!"

Even when Dave shouted at the top of his lungs, if John could hear him, he didn't respond. The static swarmed, ready to strike, and Dave ran forward, not allowing himself even one second to think it over. He caught John, threw him to safety, and practically hit the oncoming static head-on.

He screamed and everythi*

every/

thing-

it hur^

it*

!**_#

he C=

couldn't*

he cou##

##

it i!t it

~**!

iii#t

i^##(~

~%a#_#A!(*A*

-A#!a^-***//^#*~~=1_~/##*~#a !/1!!\\! ~%a#_ A!(*A*-A#!a^-***//^#*~~=1_~/##*~#a*%a#_#A!(*A*-A#!a^-*/*//^#*~~=1_~/#

#*~#a ~%a#_#A!(*A*-A#!a^-***//^#*~~=1_~/^#*~#a ~%a#_#A!(*A* -A#!a^-***//^#*~~=1_~/##*~#a ~%a#_#A! (*A*-A#!a^-*** /%a#_ A!(*A*-A#!a^-***//^#*~~=1_~/##*~#a*%a#_#A!(*A*-A#!a^-*/*//^#*~~=

/^#*~~=1_~/##*~#a H/O_S-T A!C_H'IE#V+ED;

host.scan(); n0n0n0n0; Species: "troll"; Sex: "male"; f_uu.ckK; Blood: ERROR mutation detected; retry(); Blood: ERROR mutation detected; SEARCHING FOR RESOLUTION; s/Hi1t; source genetics DETECTED; ERROR RESOLVED; Blood: "burgundy"; Name: "Dave Strider"; Age: 6; Class: "Knight"; st!0p!!; Aspect: "Time"; God Tier: true; Doomed: true; scan complete; COMMENCE host cleanup; host.name.delete(); PL%eA/Se; host.memories.delete(); N*#0=!!1!!; ERROR host.memories could not be deleted; host.memories.delete(); FU^C/K Y_0)U!*!!!; ERROR host.memories could not be deleted; host.memories.scan(); host.memories.archive(); wH/@T; host.inventory.scan(); host.specibus.scan(); host.body.override(); wH)aT aR-3 y0*%u d01/NG?!?; ERROR host.body.override() could not be executed while host.agency == true; host.agency = false; 0)h g#0d; host.body.override(); 0%h g0^(d n_0; host.digestiveSystem.disable(); host.reproductiveSystem.disable(); host.circadianRhythm.disable(); j_u$/t kiLl m3; host.scan(); scan complete; host.doomed = false;

HO/ST O!C)CU_PATION C%OM-PL^ETE;

#_#A!(*A~#_#A!(*A(**-A#!a^-*

^-**//^#*~~=1_~/

D?ve fought for his voice while he still had some semblance of contr0l over his body -- he could feel it ebbing away with every second. The other f0ur stared at him in horror instead of fucking running like they should have. He ch0ked down his screams, using every ounce of energy he had left to sh0ut, "J(A)d3!;!!" D?v? flinched as his body distorted. It didn't hurt but it felt wR0nG. "t__elep0RrRT ththth_thEm a*w@y!"

Jade raised her arms and they glowed in a faint light. "I can't get a lock on you!" she shouted.

"N0W!" ??v? shouted. He felt something pulling at his throat, pulling at his v0ice, and he l0st hiS ability to spe#ak. He kept his feet planted another sec0ND and that was all Jade needed to teleport the others away to safety before [ERROR: Returned NULL]'s body m0ved 0f 1ts 0-wn aCcord and sla$hed a sw0rd thR-ough the a1r wheRe his fr1ends had just beeN.

thAnk g0d

(0h g0d)

theY w3r/e sa_f3

(he wA=s f#uckED)

He triEd t0 resist the glitch's h0ld 0n his b0dy, but i#t was fucking p0intless. He c0uld sl0w his b0=dy a little, but he c*0uldn't c0ntr0l it anym0re. He c0uld 0nly watch as he rai_sed his sw0rd t0 the survi+ving carapacian armies. He c0uld 0nly scream i*n the seclusi0n 0f his 0wn mi-nd when he came acr0ss the sprites, when he chAsed each 0ne d0wn a*nd cut tHem in tw0, whe*n he watChed his lu_sus di)e by hi-s 0wn h#ands...

(In his last br3ath, Crabsprite re/assured hiM that hE did_n't blame his wiggler. Th;at didn't make NULL fe^el a_ny bett-er.)

This wAsn't wh/at was supp0sed t0 fucki_ng happen. He ha*dn't destr0y_ed a timeline t0 crea=te 0ne just as fuCkEd up.

At lea;st the 0thers were still alive. S0 far. But they had t0 be 0kay. He w/as from a d0omed tim3line, s0 he'd d-ie so0n. (R1ght?) He'd d1e and they'd be sa+fe (and he'd be _g0ne_ and eve\rything would be 0veR).

Tr0llian li-t up 0n his shad/es and hE sel_ected all three 0nline userna/mes, sending t-hem glitched uP m3ssages pleading f0r their l0cati0n. (0h g0d, guys, it wasn't him, it WA/SN'T HIM. D0N'T FUCK#ING REPLY.) The-re was n0 ans*wer, n0t fr0m a sin_gle 0ne 0f the\m.

He swe/pt the Battlefield f0r surviv0rs, f0r any hiNt 0f wherrRe the 0th_er f0ur h-ad g0ne t0 hide, before tAking t0 the air and h-eading f0r L0HAC. He destr0yed eve_rything he cam#e acr0ss, wheTher it Was har^mless 0r ag/greSsive, makiNg a bl00dbath 0f the nak0diles in hiS sear_ch f0r the 0ther f0ur.

He haTed his d*amn c0ns0rts, but even tHis wa;sn't supp0sed t0 happ-en t0 them.

n0ne 0f th_is sh0uld have haPpenNned.

He sh0uldn't haVe bee_n al1ve thiS fuc*king l0ng.

hE w=as a d00#med NULL. he wAs sup^p0sed to fU%ck1ng _d1e_. he wa#sN't su[ppo/sed t0 live l0ng en0ugh to c0rRRu/pt, inFect, dest/r0y the wh0le daMn sesS$ssi0n.

wi/th eveRy m0ment, c0ntr0l 0f his b0d^y felt fur)ther and fur(thErRr away. Eventu*aLLLy he c0uldn't f1nd th/e strenGth t0 rEsist an#ym0re. he wa!s never dy1ng aNd the g/liT/ch wAs ne\ver g0i*ng t0 relea#se hi;m.

h/e'd juSt wAnt#ed t0 aban*d0n that g0dawful t1meliNe anD l3t it tuRn t0 dust. h/e'd j^uSt wa)nte;d t0 sa#ve j0hn. hE'd nev_er m/eaNt t0 fu#ck u)p s0 baD.

he c0u/Ld-n't eVen r:EmeMmB3r t+he la/St Th1n*g j0hn sa1d t0 hi)m.

anD iT wa/s h1s 0wn dam/\n f+aUlt & h=e'd pr0'BablY n-ever be aAaAb+le to t3LL th%e 0th)er-s

h!e w/aS s#s0 fu-c#k1Nng sS+s-

s-0r=

r/Rr_rr##

y

_E/+R_R0R_

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued in [Constants & Variables](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1388143), because I am not a cruel enough writer to leave any character in this kind of situation. I hope the glitchy text wasn't too hard to read, 'cos it was a pain in the aaaaass to write.


End file.
